THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270548
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Urging more cooperation between northeast North Carolina and Hampton Roads, North Carolina's top state senator offered an olive branch Thursday by proposing a bi-state commission to prevent prolonged problems like the fight over Lake Gaston water.
``Economically, we're so strongly tied together,'' said state Sen. Marc Basnight, president pro tempore of the state senate who represents the first district. ``I hope we develop our regions together because we will grow together. We will be one region in the future.''
Basnight, speaking at a Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday, said that more than 2,000 people from northeast North Carolina commute daily into Virginia. Virginians also travel to the Outer Banks and other regions of North Carolina often for business and play.
Basnight cited examples where cooperation between the two regions would have helped their residents: Widening Route 168, which connects Hampton Roads to the Outer Banks and Route 17, which connects Hampton Roads to Elizabeth City, and settling the dispute over the proposed Lake Gaston water pipeline, a point of controversy between North Carolina and Hampton Roads for more than 12 years.
The two sides negotiated a Lake Gaston settlement this summer, but political squabbles in Richmond killed the deal. Now, Virginia Beach is poised to begin construction on the pipeline, and North Carolina is thought to be preparing for the next round of legal maneuvers to block the project.
Virginia Beach and Chesapeake need fresh water and want to pipe in 60 million gallons a day from the lake, which straddles the Virginia-North Carolina border.
To prevent such disagreements over shared interests, Basnight and other senators from both states are working on legislative proposals to establish a bi-state commission.
It would advise both legislatures and governors on shared economic development issues. The panel would also advise them about preserving shared natural resources.
``I think this idea of a bi-state commission is very important so we don't repeat mistakes of the past,'' said state Sen. Mark L. Earley, a Republican representing the 14th district, which covers Chesapeake and part of Virginia Beach. Earley is running for re-election against Mark Walker, an independent.
Although the structure and specific mission of the commission are being discussed, Earley said the commission may be able to meet as early as next summer, if not sooner. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Marc Basnight
by CNB